Amaya Ferrna: Out in the Open
by power2dapeople
Summary: changes pass through amaya's life like wind passes by our face. can she hold onto friends, long lost and new, through all of this?
1. Prologue: What Happened First

Prologue

Name: Amaya Ferrna. Age: 12. Rank: Genin. Home: Konoha. My story? I used to be almost the opposite of what I am now. I probably still would be, but my father was killed. My father, who had taught me all I now know at age three. And, worse, I watched it. I watched two rock nin slaughter my father. I was only six, so I didn't realize what was happening. I didn't mourn for my dad 'til I was nine.

After that terrible turn of events, my family, me and my mom, went bankrupt. We moved to Suna, where my aunt and uncle lived. My family is the one family in Konoha that actually don't live together. My mom got a job, and I went to school. But, at my new school, that's where I met Gaara.

I didn't know. I was left out, because I was a obvious Leaf girl. And one day, I saw him. He was just sitting there, but everyone avoided him. So I went over to him. He needed a friend, and I was there. I always wondered about his eyes, but never questioned him.

And then, my mom got her second paycheck. She had gained lots of money, and we were going to move back to Konoha. She missed our farm, and I did too, but I still didn't want to leave. So I got back to my home, and tried to block out the best two months of my life.


	2. Chapter 1: Chie

Chapter 1

I blocked him out well. After about a month, I had almost completely forgotten. I became the second ninja ever in my family, my father being the first, and made many friends.

But one day when I was twelve, and I became Team 9 with Aika and Katsu, a memory of my childhood floated to the surface.

I was sitting next to Gaara, telling him my dreams. "I'm going to become one of the greatest ninja ever!" I had cried. Gaara looked at me. "For who? Konoha of Suna?" he asked. I had pondered it for a little bit, and then, "Both!" He smiled. "I'll stick with Suna."

I smiled, _Well, Gaara, I'm halfway done with that. How are you doing?_

She got up, and followed her teammates into a courtyard, where their sensei, a dark woman with long black hair and clothes, and red streaks touching the bottom of her eyes and ending at her jawbone, was waiting.

She walked over to us, and smiled.

"Hey there. I'm Chie, and I guess I'm going to be your sensei for a while."

"You think?" said Aika.

She turned to look at Aika, and said,

"Your Aika, right? I've heard a lot about you. Like, how your one of the lowest in your class in genjutsu."

Aika reddened, and a boy walking by said softly "Oooooooh. Burn!"

But our sensei didn't flinch. My admiration for her grew larger, and I smiled.

"So, what do we do first?" I asked.

Chie grinned,

"Well, I always found that you work better with people who like you, so I always take my students out to eat on the first day. Who's up for dango?"

I looked at Aika, eyebrows raised. I could tell she knew that I was thinking _I like this woman!_

So, that's how we started our four-man team.

We learned more about each other than we would have if we had known each other since birth.

For instance, Katsu was a boy that rarely talked, since he had witnessed both of his parent's death, like me. He had lost his voice, and spoke only when utterly necessary. For example, when Katsu said about ten words one day while we were on a mission, we got in a horrible fight and Aika almost died. We now take too many words from him as a warning.

Aika was, as Chie-sensei said, she was at the bottom in the class in genjutsu. She rarely showed her real power, giant whirlwinds of powerful chakra, unless she's in mortal peril.

But Chie-sensei was amazing. She was agile and could move great distances without making a sound.

And then came Chie's surprising speech.

She walked up to us one day, and said,

"The chuunin exams are coming up, and I volunteered you all for it."

She said it so nonchalantly that I thought she was joking. I started snorting, and then saw Chie-sensei's face.

"Wait, you're serious?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Oh, man, you've gotta be kidding!" said Aika, "We're only rookies!"

But Chie looked at Katsu.

"What do you think?" she asked.

I knew the answer. Katsu was the one to act first, and think later.

Katsu struggled to answer, until he finally managed a word: "Yes."

I sighed.

"Well, if Katsu's going to join," I said, "then guess I'm in."

I was secretly hoping that I could find some rock ninja, so I could give them a piece of my mind. I looked at Aika, who groaned.

"Well, I don't know," she said, "I still think it might be too dangerous."

"Well," said Chie, "If you change your mind, then here."

She handed us forms for the exams, and began to walk away.

"Wait," I called after her, "no practice?"

She turned, grinning.

"Nah, I'll give you today to convince Aika."

I looked at Aika.

"Okay, then," I said.

She groaned, but I forced her down, and began to badger her, Katsu nodding the whole time.

In the end, she agreed to seriously think about it.

She's going to do it.


	3. Chapter 2: The Chuunin Exams

Chapter 2

And, I was right.

The next day, when Aika showed up, she was holding a filled out chuunin exam form. Chie smiled, she also knew that Aika would end up agreeing; she's a sucker for peer pressure.

So Chie-sensei directed us to the building where we were supposed to turn in. And she left, again. Chie was really indolent, but was a fine ninja. So Katsu led us toward the building that she had pointed at.

As we walked we had to side step some sand nin, one with red hair and black rims around his eyes . . .

My head followed the boy, thinking, _Is he? No! No, Amaya, cut it out._

I had caught myself, and quickly snapped my head back. But it was too late. Aika had caught me staring, and was giving me questionable looks. I shook my head, and looked at her, trying to telepathically tell her _I'll tell you later._

Well, it seems that I can teleport, and I can use telekinesis-both my father taught me before he died-but my telepathy sucks. Aika continuously looked at me, so much that it got incredibly annoying. I was about to snap at her when I ran into Katsu.

"Ouch," I said, rubbing my nose.

But I didn't complain. He did that too often to be able to get mad at him.

We were there. Katsu led us in, and we landed right on the third floor just in time to figure out that it wasn't the third floor.

Team 7, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, had broken the illusion. Well, actually, only Sasuke and Sakura did. Naruto just stood there like the doofus he was.

But, indeed, it was only the second floor, so all of us had to troop up another floor.

We turned in our forms, and my team ended up being one of the first ones in the waiting room. We took a seat, but we didn't stay there for long. As soon as we saw all of the other rookie cells grouping together, we stood up and walked over to them.

"Hey guys! We really all made it?" I said.

"Amaya," said Aika, "How many times have I told you not to talk to talk to idiots?"

Naruto glared at her, and she stared back, raising her eyebrows in a 'what're ya gonna do about it?' pose.

I looked over at Katsu, but he had moved on, examining a dirty window.

"What's up with him?" asked Shikamaru.

I looked back at Katsu. He never really took time to introduce himself to the others, so I doubted that anyone could really give any inside info on him like Aika and I could.

"Nothing," I said, "It's one of his favorite pastimes."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

Aika whispered in my ear, "Doesn't he watch clouds half of the day? He shouldn't think that would be too weird."

I snorted, agreeing with her.

And then this incredibly annoying boy who introduced himself as Kabuto walked up to us.

He told us that all of the ninja sitting in the room were extremely tough, as if we didn't know that already, and that, wow, he'd been taking this test seven times now!

And then he showed us his shinobi skill cards. He showed us a holographic bar graph showing all the cells from every village that came.

And Sasuke asked for Kabuto to show him two shinobi in particular. Rock Lee and . . . Gaara.

My heart leapt at his name, and the knowledge that he was here, in Konoha, just made my day. Kabuto showed the cards, and I stared at the one labeled, Gaara.

I could feel tears well up in my eyes, but blinked them back. The greatest friend that I have ever had is _here_, and he probably doesn't even remember me.


	4. Chapter 3: Written Test

Chapter 3

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! And none of you are gonna beat me!"

I was jerked out of my thoughts at the annoying yell from, who else? Naruto.

Katsu snorted in my ear, his hand on my shoulder, and I jerked in surprise. He had gotten halfway across without me hearing him.

"That idiot turned a room full of strangers into a room full of enemies with just one sentence," said Shikamaru.

Aika nodded, but I was watching a white-haired girl sidle up to Naruto, and threaten him.

I didn't catch what she said, but Ino sure did, and when she grunted in amusement, the girl turned to her.

"Y'know, I could kill one of you right now, and it'd be a piece of cake," she said.

My mouth dropped open, but then a girl who seemed to be from her team sidled up and whispered to her.

And then, and whole bunch of jonin appeared. Ibiki stepped up, ending a battle that I had missed.

He showed us a little wooden square with a number one and told us,

"Take one of these assignment cards and go sit down in the seat indicated on the card."

I rolled my eyes as he told us that the test was a written one, and Naruto freaked out. But I got a square, and did what I was told.

I had ended up next to a grass ninja and a . . . rock ninja.

I stared at him, thinking, _this could be the offspring of one of the shinobi who killed my father._

He noticed me staring at him, and stuck out his tongue. I gave him an evil glare, and averted my attention back to Ibiki, who was talking about the third rule.

"Oh, crap," I whispered, quickly reading through the first two rules.

"You have one hour," he was saying as I finished reading, "starting, NOW!"

I flipped over my paper, and studied it.

_These are incredibly tough questions, _I thought, _he really doesn't expect genin to answer these?_

But I answered the first two, slowly rereading my work. The rest had elevated into very hard questions.

I nervously pushed up my glasses, looking around.

I don't believe it. I mean, I understand no cheating, but it definitely doesn't take this many proctors to watch us. And even if he meant us to cheat, what about the people who don't even have exceptional spying jutsus? What are we-wait a minute. What if he did expect us to cheat? That would explain all of the proctors. But that still doesn't tell us what he thinks ninja without spying jutsus to do . . .hmmm . . . 

As I was having the think-fest, I was interrupted by a thought that definitely wasn't my own.

It told me the answer to that third problem! And as I looked down at my paper, it was correct! I looked around, and finally spotted Katsu.

He was performing a one-handed seal, and his forehead was scrunched up. Then I looked down at my shoulder.

I could see little specks of dirt on it.

_That cheater! _I thought, _When he had his hand on my shoulder, he rubbed dirt onto it, and communicated to me through that! But, did he do it to Aika too?_

I scanned the room for Aika, but couldn't find her. I did, however, see Gaara.

His eyes were closed, and he was holding up his hand in a seal I didn't recognize.

I averted my eyes, concentrating back on my own paper, since Katsu's voice was giving me the next answer.


	5. Chapter 4: Tenth Question?

Chapter 4

I was supplied all of the answers, until I got a sufficient 'uuuh,' from the Katsu-dirt voice on the tenth question.

I looked down at the paper, and saw why he was so confused.

_What the heck? _I thought, _what's up with the tenth question?_

Because, quite simply, there was none. Just a paragraph saying that the proctor will give you the question forty-five minutes into the exam.

I looked at the clock.

Two more minutes.

"Excuse me."

A boy stood up. He had paint on his face and had a head plate on his hat saying that he was from sand. But seeing through All of that, was it, Kankuro?

I had only seen him a couple of times, I mainly hung out with Gaara, but there really was no mistaking him.

_Is Temari here? _I thought.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Kankuro was saying.

He left. And the two minutes snuck past, until Kankuro just made it to hear the final question.

"First you must choose whether to accept or reject the question," said Ibiki.

I snorted, but a girl with four ponytail shouted, "Ch-choose? What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?!"

I looked at her. There was no mistaking the four ponytails; that was Temari.

"Those who choose to not accept will leave the room with their teammates," Ibiki was saying.

I looked at Katsu. I really didn't think he was going to raise his hand. Once again, I sought out Aika, this time, I found her, since there were fewer ninja here now, even the rock ninja beside.

Her face was white, but she looked confident enough that she wasn't going to give up.

"Don't underestimate me!" all of a sudden, a loud, obnoxious voice erupted my thoughts, "I don't quit, and I won't run!"

I looked around, and, who else? Naruto.

_Jeez, the baka, _I thought, putting my head in my hands.

But that really riled up the rest of the ninja left. So Ibiki couldn't get anybody else to leave.

"Good call," he said, "So, everyone who is still here, you've just passed the first exam!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Cool," I said.

I had accepted what he said, no questions asked, but everyone else looked confused. I took the time to relax and examine the remaining shinobi.

The white-haired girl was still here, and she had just raised her head off the table, looking thoroughly confused. There was a ninja with a long blonde braid who was sitting on the floor next to her, since they had apparently run out of numbers for seats. She was sitting up, talking quickly to the white-haired kunoichi, as if explaining to her. The latter looked bored, looking like she had experienced this many times.


	6. Chapter 5: 2nd Exam Rules

Chapter 5

Ibiki explained it to us, and then,

CRASH!

A blur sped through the room, kunais struck the ceiling and floor, and spread out a banner. The blur landed, and a woman appeared.

"None of you are in any position to celebrate," she said, "I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko!"

Silence. This girl is a doofus.

But she really didn't unfazed.

78 of you are still here?" she turned to Ibiki, Ibiki! You passed twenty-six teams?! I'll cut down the number by half by the time we're done."

I raised an eyebrow. _Uh-huh, _I thought.

"I'll explain things in detail as soon as we get to our next location, so follow me!"

- - -

_Wow, this is a huge forest, _I thought.

I looked down at Katsu.

Yes, down.

Katsu was happily sitting on the ground, stroking the dirt into a small pile.

Right where I left him.

"With the other two members of your cell, bring the forms to the hut behind you and submit them."

_Forms? What forms? _I thought.

But my question was answered when Aika handed me a pile of forms. I took one, and sent the rest down to Katsu.

"Now, about the exam," Anko said, "To put it simply, it's a no-holds-barred survival test."

_Survival test? _ I thought, _oh, goody._

"It's kind of fight-to-the-death version of capture the flag. Or scroll, in this case."

"Scroll?" a boy said.

"Exactly!" replied Anko, "There's a heaven scroll, and earth scroll. Your objective is to get both. There are 78 of you here, that means 26 teams. Thirteen starts out with an earth scroll, and thirteen gets the heaven scroll. But you need both to pass. So you have to get the other scroll, while keeping your own safe, and bring them both back to the tower in the center."

"So, thirteen teams, the teams that lost their scroll, lose," said Sakura.

"Exactly!" said Anko.

She continued to speak about the rules, but I lost myself into my thoughts.

Well, that just tightens the noose. I mean, some of the people here are incredibly advanced! And we're only rookies. We have a chance, since Katsu's on our team, and he will be able to get us to the tower, and away from strong ninja, safely. But what about fighting? Aika would have to be in mortal peril for us to have a clear chance at winning. Our only way, would be to team up with another squad.

A man stepped out of the hut and said, "It's almost time to distribute the scrolls."

I looked around. It looked like almost everyone else had filled out their form. Except for me. I hurriedly wrote out the answers and walked toward the hut with the others.

When we got our scroll, a heaven one, and headed to a gate.

"Gate 3?" I asked looking at Aika, "Why'd you pick gate 3?"

"It's my lucky number," she answered.

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Katsu, on the other hand, snorted loudly.

Aika looked at him, peeved.

He smiled, "Dirt," he said, as if that cleared it up.

We didn't believe him. Katsu has never gotten dirt up his nose before.

"Part two of the chuunin exams begins…..NOW!"


	7. Chapter 6: What's Up With Katsu?

Chapter 6

We stayed where we were for a couple minutes.

Katsu was back on the ground, and had enough to cover a great dane on his lap. He formed the tiger seal, and slapped his hand down onto the soil. I looked around.

There were proctors looking at us.

"What?" I said.

Then one of them stated the obvious, "You're supposed to be gone."

"Well, duh," said Aika, "Are you blind?"

He blinked, "No."

"Then what do you see this guy doing?" she said, waving her hand at Katsu.

"Uh, well, um," he stuttered.

"Exactly," I said, "Just be patient, we'll leave."

Katsu, oblivious to the conversation going on above him, slowly opened his eyes, and stood up. A little bit of the dirt fell away from him, but a little more that half clung to him, and he didn't bother to dust it off.

He jerked his head toward the gate, and walked through it. Aika followed, but I paused for a second to turn, smile, and wave and the jonin still watching us.

"See you!" I said, and followed my team.

- - -

We walked. Aika continuously tried to get Katsu to speed up, but since she had no idea where we were going, and Katsu was barely listening to her, she failed drastically.

The hours passed, and we stopped three times for Katsu to perform his dirt direction jutsu. At least, that's what we Aika and I call it. Katsu won't tell us the real name. But anyways, the jutsu was taking longer and longer each time, and soon enough, the day turned into night.

We camped by a river, so we could catch fish. Katsu pulled up huge slabs of rocks from far below the ground to form a shelter, and we slept there for the night.

But in the morning, Aika was getting restless.

"Come ON Katsu!" she said, "You have to tell us where were going!"

He looked at her, and walked outside. A couple seconds later, he cam back in holding a stick. He sat down again, and began to draw out a map.

"What's he drawing?" asked Aika.

"He's explaining why its taking us so long," I said, our target, the team that the dirt is directing us to, is obviously lost, and keeps changing direction. So the dirt is becoming confused, thus Katsu is. Right?"

Katsu nodded.

Then he wrote, GIV ME TIM, ILL FIND THEM.

I looked at Aika, "So, he can't spell."

- - -

We sat in that makeshift shelter for thirty minutes, watching, and waiting for Katsu to open his eyes again.

Aika finally turned to me, and said, "It really can't take him that long to find them."

"He probably fell asleep," I whispered back.

That started a round of laughter that was still going on when Katsu stood up. He walked over to the mouth of the hut and kept on going. I poked Aika out of the euphoria, and we quickly followed him.

"Y'know, I hate how we always follow a silent guy. How'd he end up as our leader anyways?" said Aika.

I shrugged, "Don't ask me, it just happened."

- - -

Katsu stopped a couple hours later, and I caught myself just before I bumped into him. Aika, however, ran right into me. Katsu smiled, and pointed at the cell in the clearing.

I closed my eyes, and shook my head.

Katsu had led us straight to the team with the tough looking white-haired kunoichi!

"Katsu, you idiot!" I whispered fiercely, "We can't fight them!"

He raised his eyebrows, but Aika, who hadn't heard anything I just said, pused me out into the clearing. I, of course, ran right into Katsu, who fell dramatically onto the ground, which lightly caught him.

A boy in a red vest and a long-sleeved white shirt looked up, and we straightened up.

I got a better look at the white-hair girl. She wore it down to where my long hair ended. She had a gray t-shirt and a jean jacket. Her headband was tied to her black capris.

Her other teammate had a purple shirt, though the three-quarters-length sleeves were netted. She had a purple skirt with a lining of net on the end. Her headband played a tie for her long blonde braid.

My insides were shaking. I could feel my heart banging against my ribs. I had to quickly think of an excuse not to fight them.

The tough girl positioned herself, and I blurted out the last thing I wanted to say.

"Stop," I stepped forward, grinning with the lightheadedness I was having right about then, "We have the same scroll."

That sobered me up.

I _cannot _believe I just said that!

But I had to go along with it. I pulled out my scroll, and showed it to them.

I could hear the girl gasp, and my heart came back from it's hiding place in my stomach. I was right.

Simultaneously, we walked up to them, eye-to-eye, and I lost my train of thought. Finally, I stuck and said, "I'm Amaya, and these are my teammates, Aika and Katsu.

Katsu nodded, and I could feel the tension finally break.

"Hikara," said the girl with the long braid, "and this is Tsukiko, and Ryota."

We nodded to them, and the boy copied, but Tsukiko remained still and silent with an unemotional look on her face.

"Well, since we have the same scroll, shouldn't we work together? I mean, we won't have any need of fighting each other, so…."

"That's fine," said Tsukiko. Then she did a surprising thing.

She shot a lightning bolt at a tree, evenly cutting it into sixths!

I looked at my teammates, and Katsu shrugged, so we sat with them.


	8. Chapter 7: Questions: Sound Familiar?

Chapter 7

First off, I started out by exclaiming at Ryota, "Hey! Your that guy I sat next to!"

Ryota looked surprised, but nodded.

"Yeah, your right," he said.

"Well, now that we're over that reunion, why is that guy talking to dirt?" cut in Tsukiko.

I looked over at Katsu, who, indeed, had a handful of dirt in his hand, and was gently talking to it. Well, not really talking. He was murmuring in an ununderstandable (inunderstandable? Unable understandable? Help me out here!) language.

Hikara swung her head around to Tsukiko, and retorted, "Hey, you're the one who talks to winds, you shouldn't be the one remarking about it."

"Excuse me?" said Aika, "Winds?"

Tsukiko sighed, and raised her hand, palm facing the sky, and dropped a gust of wind over Aika.

"O-okay, got it," she said, "I didn't think it was possible for a twelve-year-old to be able to control wind and lightning. I know jonin who can't do it."

Tsukiko ignored the question, but Hikara answered.

"She was struck by lightning at age six."

"Oh. That would do it," Aika said quietly.

And she promptly changed the subject.

"So, you're from The Grass Village, huh?" she asked.

"What?" said Hikara, surprised. "N-no, we're-" Then she looked at her headband. "Oh. I guess we are."

"You don't seem very sure about it," said Aika.

Hikara looked around, then whispered, "Can you keep a secret?" They nodded. "Well, we're really from Kumogakure."

Aika gasped, "But, but we're not-"

"Yeah, we know," sighed Hikara, "We're not allies. Why do you think we're disguised?"

Aika was about to answer, but then Tsukiko cut in, "Are those two always that quiet?"

Aika looked at her teammates. "No. Well, he is," she gestured at Katsu, "but Amaya's usually pretty talkative."

Hikara looked at Tsukiko, "what are you thinking?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

She grinned, and raised her hand; it was glowing softly with chakra.

"No! No, Tsukiko, don't think about it."

"What are you tal-" But Aika never got to finish her question. Tsukiko slammed her hand down, and a ripple moved quickly through the ground right toward me.

_BAM!_

I flew threw the air like a bullet, and landed ten feet away from them.

In a muffled kind of way, I could hear Katsu's surprised remark," What the?"

"Wow, you got him to talk. He normally gets in five words a day."

But anything else they said I didn't hear.

Because I realized what I was laying on.

He had used it on me once. We were racing, and I was winning. He cheated, making it gently grip my ankle to make me trip. He won the race, but I never forgot how that sand had felt.

Warm to the touch, and almost like clay. That's what I was feeling on my back.

I rolled over, and crouched down on my heels. I stroked the ground, picking up the small bits that had stayed where it was.

_He was here, _I thought.

Then I realized that the rest were probably still waiting for me to come back.

So I quickly stood up and walked back. I sat down, and tried to direct the attention away from.

"So your kage is the Raikage, right?"

Hikara blushed, and ducked her head.

"What's up with her?" asked Aika, voicing my thoughts.

"Umm, I really don't know," Tsukiko said uncertainly.

Then a small voice emitted from behind Hikara's braid. "He's, the Raikage, he's my dad."

Tsukiko stood up. "I knew it!" And then she looked at Hikara. "Why didn't you tell me?"

They looked at each other for a moment, and then,

"You told me, didn't you?" Tsukiko asked. She nodded. "Crap," She said, sitting down again, "I'm not good at listening."

I looked at Tsukiko. "Okay. Now then," But she cut me off.

"I hate questions. Including the two you just asked, you get three more questions. And they'd better be important.

I stared at Hikara.

"Is she serious?" I asked.

"She's serious about most things, so, yeah, I'm pretty sure she is." Hikara answered.

"Hmmph. Okay then, Hikara, why don't you tell people that the Raikage's your father?"

Hikara looked serenely at me. "I don't want him to get hurt," she answered.

"But-"

"Hey!" Tsukiko cut in, "are you sure you want to waste a question?"

Aika looked at her, her eyes angry.

"No, it's alright," Hikara said, she looked at us, " No, he didn't tell me to. I did it on my own free will, because I didn't want to tell someone, then they'd use me to get to him. It's all really confusing, I have to tell it to myself every once in awhile so I'd not slip up."

"Oh," I said.

"Two more questions," Tsukiko said, and Aika frowned at her.

"Alrightie," said I, looking at Aika, who nodded, "What is-" But I never got to finish.


	9. Chapter 8: Our Battle

Chapter 8

The stone ninja walked out of the bushes, and I stared at them, grinding my teeth, and I jumped when Hikara whispered fiercely in my ear.

"Quick! We'll help you get your scroll, just get ready."

We stationed ourselves away from the ninja, and I saw Katsu, out of the corner of my eye, silently burying the other team.

"This it gonna be so easy, they're just munchlings," said the on on the left

"Um, actually," cut in the one on the right leaning over to look at his comrade, "I think it's 'munchkins' but-"

"Hey, shut up! C'mon you three little sissies; come on and fight."

I heard a soft schlucking noise as the other team rose up from the ground, Ryota and Hikara on each side of me, and Tsukiko softly floating above me.

"Okay, so there's six little sissies, we can still take them!" said the first ninja.

They boy in the middle ran at us, forcing me to quickly teleport out of the way to let Hikara do whatever she did. With a quick flick of the finger, I watched from my hiding spot in the bushes behind the stone ninja as Hikara opened up her bracelet, letting a good enough size of whip come out, which she threw to Ryota. He grabbed it, and the stretched whip tripped the boy. Tsukiko threw a lightning bolt at the fallen boy's heart, instantly killing him.

His teammates stared, "Okay," said one, "we can still do this."

One started to run, but then I quickly materialized at his side.

"Oh, no you don't," I said, my eyes glowing blue, which signaled that I was using telekinesis.

XxX

From somewhere in the forest, Kiba fell to the ground as the large boulder he was leaning on floated up and away.

"Looks like Amaya's at it," he said.

XxX

I floated the boulder over to the scared nin, and fell on him. He was killed immediately.

The last boy was horrified. He tried to run, but tsukiko quickly stopped him. She punched him, hard, but just enough for him to fall back, right into Katsu's arms.

Katsu closed his eyes, preformed a few hand symbols, and reached into the shinobi's pocket. Out of it, he pulled an Earth scroll. Then, using the hand holding the scroll, he preformed more hand symbols, and dug his heel into the ground. A large, gaping hole appeared, and Katsu tossed the ninja in. Scared, he looked up at Katsu, who preformed yet more hand symbols, and dug his heel in again. The hole was instantly covered.

"Whoa," Tsukiko said, "how did he…?"

"He works with dirt," I said, looking at Katsu. "Oh, fine! 'Soil.' But anything he does, it has dirt in it. That's how he found their scroll."

"Oh," said Hikara, "So is that how you knew we had the same scroll?"

"Tsukiko was obviously caught off balance.

"Huh?"

"We had the deal, remember? Now we're gonna get you yours."

Katsu silently picked up a handful of soil, and studied it. Then he threw it up in the air, and started walking

I looked at him. "Okay," I said, "this way." And I began to follow Katsu.

Tsukiko quickly caught up to me. "Wait, why are we following a boy that doesn't talk and throws dirt up into the air?" she asked.

I looked at her.

"Didn't we tell you already?" I asked.

"Yeah, probably, " she answered, "But just tell me again."

I sighed.

"He works with dirt. Like I said, he can find anything with a speck of dirt on it. Thus, he just looked into the dirt, and it pointed him in the direction of the closest person with an earth scroll. So I was thinking that we did a surprise attack, y'know, let Katsu point us in the right direction, then jump on the others, and take down the one with the scroll."

"Pff," Tsukiko said, "You obviously have never planned put a battle, have you?"

I looked at her strangely. "No. Have you?"

"Of course."

Then Hikara cut in, her head over my shoulder, "She's a master at planning. Our sensei will normally let her decide what to do."

"Um, okay then," I said, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Oh, that's easy," she said, "We jump on the guy with the scroll first, then we get the other guys, so they'll- OUCH! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?"

Tsukiko had started shouting at Katsu, when he smoothly turned around and covered my mouth.

"Mmmph, Nneergh! Bffffbmbrmm!"

"Oh."

There were three extremely dirty ninja, standing a few feet away from us.


	10. Chapter 9: Neji's Team

Chapter 9

Aika crawled up to Katsu.

"Who has it?" she asked.

He pointed at the boy on the left.

"No way," Tsukiko whispered, "That guy's a total dip! I can't believe he got to hole the scroll! I mean, who wears spandex anymore? Or even GREEN spandex! Who dresses him? His sensei?"

I probably looked pretty nervous, "Um, actually, he does."

Tsukiko almost fell on the ground laughing. "R-really?"

"Yeah, are you sure we'll be able to defeat these guys? Neji Hyuuga's pretty strong."

Tsukiko sighed "Oh, fine. We'll attack when they go to sleep."

Hikara sat down. "Well, We're gonna be waiting for a whi-Katsu, does dirt ever feel circularish, kinda like a scro- oh, duh."

She stood up again, and dug into the earth. "Hey, Tsukiko, I think we found our scroll. Its 'earth,' get it? You get it? It's…oh, never mind."

Tsukiko had been giving her the "The queen is not amused look," a look I knew well/

"Well, you have your scroll," said Aika, "Now we just have to head toward the tower."

Katsu raised his hands, and formed a simple sign. He closed his eyes, and stood still for a minute. Tsukiko raised my eyebrows, and looked at me. She looked at me, and put her finger to her lips.

"Shh," I said, and looked at Katsu.

He sat there comfortably for a little bit, while I felt a line of sweat trickle down my forehead. Six people in an enclosed space isn't a good experience.

Then Katsu opened his eyes, and watched Hikara pocket the scroll.

"No!" he grunted, and threw himself at her, grabbing the scroll.

"What the-?" Hikara shouted, as Tsukiko cried, "That's our scroll!" at the same time.

But we saw what he was doing; he opened it about halfway, and tore it off, throwing the piece far away. Then he re-sealed the scroll, and handed it back.

"Trick," he said.

Aika was amazed. "Wow, you two are really good at making him talk. That must have been at least five words."

"Hey, what about me?!" asked Ryota.

"S'all right," I said, grinning, "We still love you."

I looked at them, raising an eyebrow. "You guys do realize that you were shouting, right?"

"Yeah, so what?" asked Tsukiko

"Well, we're standing right in front of another group, right? And now THEY'RE WALKING RIGHT TOWARD US!"

She was right. Neji and his teammates, who I think were called Rock Lee and Tenten were walking toward our hiding.

Hikara silently reached her hand around me and gently pushed Tsukiko forward.

She turned, giving Hikara a look, which came off as, 'are you crazy? Can't we just run?'

But Tsukiko sighed, and stepped out.


	11. Chapter 10: How Many Days?

Chapter 10

Lee looked at her, and asked, "Who are you?"

She ignored him, but tossed her hair and glared at Neji.

"Umm," she said, and turned back to us, making a face at Hikara as she swiftly walked back.

"Hey, come back here!" shouted Tenten.

She turned, looking at her, "Um, nope, I don't think I will," she said, she ran to us.

"Run!" she hissed, and she took off.

But, good old Katsu, he stepped in front of her, and displayed signs, and we dropped into the earth.

I had only been under once, and I didn't really like it, but it was really useful for times like these.

We heard them run over us, and then a boom. I saw Hikara turn to Tsukiko and mouth 'Trick scroll.'

Katsu can be very useful to have around.

He unburied us, and I glanced over to the other team. Tenten and Neji were fine, but Lee looked funny, leaning awkwardly on a tree and I guessed that he had gotten the worst of it.

And then Tsukiko collapsed, dropping to the ground.

"What's up with her?" asked Aika.

Hikara propped Tsukiko up onto her shoulder, "Well, she does have about 500 bolts of lightning coursing through her. When she's running out of energy, she collapses, like so."

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Either we head toward the tower, hoping no one runs into us, or we wait for the night."

I looked at the sky, "Considering it's only about 11:00 am, lets say we head on toward the tower, and hope that nobody runs into us."

"Sounds like a plan."

We headed off, but not five minutes into the path, Aika stopped, saying, "How many days have we been in this forest?"

I looked at her, mouth open, then shut it abruptly. I turned to look at Katsu, who shrugged, and Hikara, who said, "Haven't been keeping track."

I looked back at Aika, eyes wide.

"Let's hurry."


	12. Chapter 11: Preliminaries

Chapter 11

We zipped through the trees, running face first into bees, which Katsu quickly expelled.

The scenery flew by as we hurried to the tower; fear of out limit being up pumping through our veins.

And then we landed by the door.

We looked up at the towering building (hence the name) and stood in silence. Then Aika broke it with a comment.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go in!"

She led the way, and we walked in the doors, and were faced with a framed poem.

_What the heck is that? _I thought.

Hikara turned to Tsukiko, who was leaning on her shoulder, but conscience.

"Should we open the scrolls, then?" Hikara asked. Tsukiko nodded.

Slowly, Tsukiko reached into her back pocket, pulling out the heaven scroll, and Hikara copied. I followed suit, since i was holding both. Slowly, we peeled open the scroll, and looked at it.

"Its, it's a summoning scroll," said Ryota.

_Pop._

Two jonin appeared, Chie, and the other team's sensei, it looked like.

"Chie!" said Aika, walking to her, Katsu following.

"Wait, why are you here?" Tsukiko asked.

"The spell was designed so that chuunins could greet you at the end of the test," said Chie, "Congratulations, you've all passed the test."

"Yay!" said Hikara, accidentally letting go of the white-haired kunoichi.

It was apparent that her legs still weren't strong enough to stand on. "Yaaaah!" Tsukiko shouted, as she fell to the ground.

Chie leaned toward us, as her sensei laughed, and walked toward them.

"You guys just barely made it," she said, "Let's go in.

"Good plan," said Aika.

We walked toward the other door. I think I heard Tsukiko say my name, but I didn't look back.

The room had many other people in it, including the 3rd Hokage and all the other rookie cells. We lined up by Hinata's cell, and stood, waiting, for about two minutes, tehn Tsukiko, Hikara, and Ryota walked in.

Aika looked at them, "Where were you?" she whispered.

"Just having a bit of sensei-student talk," Tsukiko responded, but was shushed by Hikara when the Hokage started speaking.

(A/N: I'm not gonna do all of the dialogue because there is a whole lot of it and I don't want to type it all out. So, we'll start right here.)

"So, umm," said the new proctor, "Not to hurry you all to slaughter, but let's begin. We'll now announce the first two names."

We all looked up at the screen, well everyone but Tsukiko, who was examining her nails.

**UCHIHA SASUKE VS. AKADO YOROI**

Winner: Sasuke

**ZAKU ABUMI VS. ABURAME SHINO**

Winner: Shino

**TSURUGI MISUMI VS. KANKURO**

Winner: Kankuro (yay!)

**HARUNO SAKURA VS. YAMANAKA INO**

Winner: Neither

**TEMARI VS. TENTEN**

Winner: Temari (I just realized that I'm rooting for Suna.)

**NARA SHIKAMARU VS. TSUCHI KIN**

Winner: Shikamaru

**UZUMAKI NARUTO VS. INUZAKA KIBA**

Winner: Naruto

**HYUUGA HINATA VS. HYUUGA NEJI **(Oh, jeez)

Right before this match, I found Gaara. He stood away from the rest of the group, arms folded, staring down at the field. I looked at him, and made up my mind.

I teleported behind him, and slowly walked next to him, heart pounding, my stomach turning somersaults.

He looked at me, and I leaned on the balcony, looking down at the battle.

Then I spoke, my voice barely going above a whisper.

"Good to see you again."

He stared at me, and I felt my heart jump to my throat. If he didn't remember me, I was as good as dead.

But then he blinked, and said, "Amaya?"

I smiled, and felt my heart sink back down.

"It's been years."

It seemed that he wasn't done talking.

I nodded.

"I know I left just as you needed me," I said.

This was true. The day after Yashamaru tried to kill him, my mother picked me up early from school, and we moved back to Konoha.

"But I never forgot about you,' I finished.

I looked back over to him, but he only nodded, still looking at the match, which just ended, leaving Neji as the winner.

We looked up at the screen expectantly; my heart sank lower (it's very good at doing that) as the words flashed on it.

**GAARA VS. ROCK LEE**

I turned to wish Gaara luck, but he had disappeared, only to appear in a swirl of sand down on the thingy where you fight. (A/N: I totally forgot what it was called.)

I gripped the balcony, watching them, but Gaara's power had improved greatly in 6 years. He won, with a few roadblocks on the way, but he won all the same. He came back to stand next to me, and looked at him, eyes wide.

"Creepy," I said, but he didn't respond.

I looked back at the scoreboard, and saw two more names appear.

**NARASHI KYOKO VS. DONO HIKARA**

I heard Hikara whisper, "Wait, that's me."

"Yeah," said Tsukiko, "Now get down there."

Hikara obeyed, watching a boy with short blue hair and a blue shirt do the same thing.

The whole thing happened very fast, but what I saw was gruesome. Kyoko was from The Village Hidden in the Mist, and thus had water-based attacks.

He disabled Hikara's whip, and cast a genjutsu.

Next thing I knew, Kyoko won and Hikara was on a stretcher, coughing up blood and water.


	13. Chapter 12: Yay Katsu!

Chapter 12

I teleported quickly down to the arena, and glared at a girl with long, light green hair and gauzy brown top and bottoms.

"Simple," I said, moving to my teleportation stance – the ankle of my right foot touching the ankle of my left, forming a right angle, and my stiff fingertips curled and hooked into each other.

"Begin!" said the proctor, and I stood there, tensed.

"Hyaaaah!" shouted the ninja from Grass, and ran at me. She pulled out a kunai, ready to stab me, but missed.

"Huh?" she said, then, "Yaaah!"

I had appeared right behind Natsuko, pulled out a kunai, and slit her heels.

Natsuko fell to the ground, unable to walk. I stood up, dusting myself off, and kept a safe distance from her (she still had a kunai) and said "Really, now,. That is a simple technique that anyone could see through, and yet you, who are older than me, didn't suspect a thing. That. Is. Pitiful."

And I turned to the proctor. "As you can see," I said, "My opponent is unable to fight."

"Uh, right," he said, "The winner: Ferrna Amaya."

I smiled, but then fell to the ground, hitting my butt hard.

"Umph!" I grunted, and quickly teleported out of the way of Natsuko, who had crawled over and tripped me, and was ready to stab me.

The match is over dear," I said sarcastically, and walked up the stairs.

**AKIMICHI CHOUJI VS. DOSU**

Winner: Dosu

**HORAN IWAKO VS. CHIRIAKA KATSU**

.Katsu took his time walking down the stairs, and the proctor immediately started the match when he got down there. It began the same as mine.

"Yaaah!" shouted Iwako, but to, his dismay, he also missed with his kunai, because Katsu had sunk into the ground, completely covered.

"You can't fool me," said the boy, "you had to have buried yourself right, here!" He slammed down his palm, creating a mini earthquake like Tsukiko's. He looked down expectantly, but his face fell.

"Where'd he go?" he asked.

Even the ones who weren't interested in the match turned to look, seeing that there were only two people in the arena: Iwako and the proctor. We all waited. Seconds passed into minutes. They ticked by as Iwako got more and more confident that he won.

I looked over at Aika, who gave me a thumbs up. Katsu had used this technique often enough that we recognized it.

After exactly fifteen minutes had passed, something happened.

A dull roar emitted out of nowhere It started as a whisper, and grew louder, and louder, until people were covering their ears.

_**BOOM!**_.

A force that broke windows rang through the whole tower, and a shower of dirt landed on everyone.

When the dustcleared, we all saw the winner. Katsu was standing calmly on top of the cracked soil, and Iwako was lying on top of the fingers of the statue in the room.

Told you Katsu would win.

"Ahem," said the thoroughly dusty proctor, "The winner, Chiriaka Katsu!"

Katsu walked slowly up the stairs, and I hgged him before he could get back to standing next to Aika and Tsukiko.

"You did great! It was so riveting! Definitely the best work you've ever done!"

All Katsu could do was blush and look away from me.

All of a sudden, I head a small cry. I looked over at the other three, and heard Aika say, "It's me, I'm next!"

"Really?" Tsukiko said, looking at the screen. "Oh, you're right."

And she was.

**KADOU AIKA VS. JURO FINYER**

Oh, crap.


	14. Chapter 13: A Fallen Friend

Chapter 13

"Oh God, I'm not ready for this!" she said.

"But you have to. Everyone else did," Tsukiko said, not even helping.

"Right. Well, I'm going to win this!"

Aika walked confidently out to the arena, Juro down the other. Juro had shoulder length black hair.

Aika gave him a nasty face when he gave her a kissy face, and the proctor started the match.

Juro dropped his head, and stood there. Aika tilted her head, confused, and waited.

He lifted his head, and a gasp echoed through the spectators.

Juro's sea colored eyes had turned maroon, matching Aika's skirt.

"Aika! Run!" I screamed, when I realized that Aika hadn't moved at all.

Juro raised his hand. It was glowing with the same shade of maroon as his thoroughly creepy eyes.. He made a fist, and ran at Aika, bringing it up onto her chin.

She emitted a soft cry, and fell into a heap.

"Aika!" I screamed, reaching my hand out to her.

I jumped over the landing, and ran to her.

"Miss, please leave the floor, we still have one more pair," said the proctor.

I ignored him, and crouched down to my fallen partner.

"Aika, Aika are you alright?" I asked, shaking her limp body.

She groaned, and looked at me, "His, his eyes!" she said, "They're, so horrible! I saw terrible things; it was horrifying! Everything bad, everything sad in my life flashed before my eyes. I couldn't move. Wha-what did you do?"

She directed the last part at Juro, who answered, ""Niiro Manako, baby. Too bad you couldn't see it at its full power."

"Niiro Manako," I said, turning it over in my head, "Red eye? Is it a Kekkei Genkai?"

"That's right."

"Everyone, I must ask you to leave to leave the floor. We have one more match."

I didn't want to, but I et the doctors take Aika away on a stretcher, and walked back up the stairs.

"Will the last two please come down."

**MOIEV TSUKIKO VS. HISAO JANDID**

Heh, good luck winning _that _one, Jandid.

Once again, the opponent ran at her, but she calmly raised her palms to him, and shut her eyes tightly.

A sudden drench of rain appeared, and everyone who had gotten dirty from Katsu's fight (and that was everybody) immediately got muddy.

I felt a little weaker after it was over, but I didn't pay any attention.

"Oh, no!" he teased, "What will you do next? Snow on me? You are so weak."

Then he tried to run at her again.

"Wait, huh? I'm stuck!"

"Yeah," Tsukiko said, smirking, "During that crappy little monologue of yours, I took the time to dry the lovely soil that Katsu made. And we all know, that dirt plus water equals?"

There was an embarrassing silence. I thought it was a rhetorical question, so I didn't answer, but Katsu apparently didn't care.

"Mud!" he called out.

A few people laughed, but Tsukiko stayed serious.

"Right, mud. Now, oh wise one who doesn't know what dirt and water makes, you are stuck. Thus, making you totally vulnerable and wide open."

She shot a bolt of blue lightning at him, and Jandid fell to the ground, fainted.

I thought she was done, but she brought her palm forcefully to the ground, and brought the floor back out again. Jandid fell into it, and she smoothed it back out, so no one could tell that anyone was beneath it.

"He's still alive," she said, "But unless you can dig up 6 feet of earth in, oh, abut five minutes, he's a good as gone." And she walked up the stairs with a look of triumph on her face.


	15. Chapter 14: Helping Tsukiko

Chapter 14

I followed her to where she and only Katsu now were standing.

"Woah, Tsukiko, that was, was," I stammered.

"Scary," finished Katsu.

I looked at him, "Well, yeah. It was kinda scary. You do realize that you just killed a guy, right?"

Tsukiko blinked. "Of course I know that. It was incredibly easy to do. By the way, who gave the answer.?"

"Well, Katsu did," I said, shifting my eyes.

"Why do you look so jumpy? What's so bad about Katsu talking?"

"Well," I said, "Whenever Katsu talks a lot, even if it's just one word every two hours, then that's bad.

"Bad? How?"

"Our guess is that it means something bad's going to happen. Last time he did that, We badly failed our mission, and Aika barely got out alive."

No, I wasn't exaggerating. Katsu had talked way too much for one day, and our mission went all wrong that day.

- - -

The jonins pulled us winners into a separate room, and showed us a chart showing us who we were going to fight. I didn't hear any of what the ninjas were telling us in between entering and seeing the chart because I kept giving Tsukiko strange looks.

But I glanced at the chart, and had to give it a second one, too. I was fighting Narashi Kyoko, the boy who had easily defeated Hikara. I grinned, and saw that Katsu was fighting Hakuchi Chijin, who defeated Ryota, and Tsukiko, Juro Finyer.

I ground my teeth at that name.

We were dismissed, and I walked to the hospital with Tsukiko. We didn't talk to each other at all.

We separated at the lobby, because Hikara, who Tsukiko was visiting, and Aika, who I was, were in different parts of the hospital.

I headed down the hallway, looking for her room. When I finally found it, I saw her sitting up on the bed, legs stretched out, and staring at the wall in front of her.

I leaned my torso in, and knocked on the stretch of wall beside me.

She slowly turned her head toward me, and I got a good look at her.

Her eyes were red, and her reddish-brown hair that she had always been proud of was mussed and greasy. Her white long-sleeved shirt with the white straps was soaked with sweat, but wasn't see-through. Her face was white, and her forehead was creased with worry.

I walked into the room, and sat down on the edge of her bed. I wrapped my arms around her, and let her cry into my bare shoulder. We sat there for about ten minutes, until Aika pulled away.

"Thanks," she sniffled, "I needed that."

I patted her shoulder, and said, "No problem. Would you be willing to tell me what happened?"

"He forehead creased again, and she said, "Well, when he shot those eyes at me, I froze. Like I said, he showed me horrible images. They weren't my memories or anything. It's not like he probed my mind. It was just ghastly scene after terrifying scene. I didn't feel anything when he hit me. Just relief that the images had gone. Who'd have thought that such a pretty boy like him could be so powerful?"

"It's not just him who can do that," I said, "It's his whole clan!"

She leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes, "I thought so."

"Well, Tsukiko's fighting him, so he's a good as dead," I said.

She gave a short laugh, and said, "Good."

I was about to say something else, but I saw a group of healing ninja run past me.

I looked at them, and quickly turned back to Aika.

"Aika, do you…?" I said, but then she shook her head.

"No, I don't. Go ahead and figure out what's happening."

I nodded, and took off after the doctors.

I followed them past the lobby, and into the direction that Tsukiko went into.

We ended up, of course, right in front of an almost-fainted Tsukiko.

_Jeez, trouble practically follows that girl everywhere she goes._

But I couldn't help but ask a few questions.

"Tsukiko? What happened? Why are all those doctors running-why are you on the floor?"

"Too many questions!" she groaned.

I snorted, but bent down to lift her onto my shoulder. Then I said to the nurse who had been bending down beside her, "She'll be fine. Let me take her to my farmhouse. She only doest this when she gets weak, so I'm sure that bed rest will work like a charm."

She nodded, and I took off, trying to get out of the hospital.

Once outside the doors, I shrugged a fainted Tsukiko higher onto my shoulder. Then I teleported home.

I walked into the front door with Tsukiko almost falling off my shoulder.

"Mom! I'm home! And I brought, well, um, someone home!"

My mother walked into the room, and gasped when she saw Tsukiko.

"What happened?" she asked, "why is she like that?"

I let her take Tsukiko from me, and said, "I don't know what happened. All I know is that she fainted in the hallway of the hospital."

Mom examined her, then said, "Well, let's just let her sleep, then, shall we?"

My mother was an expert when it came to simple healing. Whenever our animals on our farm got sick, she could get them to get better without having to work hard. She had wanted to work on a human, and I figured that somebody who had just fainted was the best way to start.

She carried Tsukiko up to my room, and took off the jean jacket to reveal a silver tank top.

Tsukiko lay there peacefully as I gazed at her thin body. Her white hair was soaked through with blood and water, and I wondered what this girl had been up to.

"Amaya!" called my mother, "come down here and tell me what happened today."

I sighed. Man, the ninja from other villages were lucky; they didn't have a mom here who wanted to know everything as it happens.

But I walked downstairs to tell her about the exams, and she was a very good audience. Then she sent me outside to do me chores.


	16. Chapter 15: Tsukiko's Story

Chapter 15

Eight days later, while the rest of us winners were training hard, Tsukiko was still asleep in my room. I had been forced to sleep on our couch. Our couch! In our own house!

So, I was getting tired of having Tsukiko unknowingly sleeping in my bed.

But it wasn't until the twelfth day that something happened.

After visiting the hospital, I peeked into my room to see if there was any progress, and I found her sitting up, totally confused.

"You're awake, huh?" I asked, "I just saw Hikara. Thanks to what you did, she's doing fine. What did you do anyways? Hikara knew and she was out cold."

She smiled.

"She knew," she said, "because she was the person I had done it on before."

I looked at her, my mouth dropping open.

"Wh-whaaaaaaat?" I screamed.

"Sit," she said, "I'll tell you the story."

I sat, and she began her tale.

"When we just started as a cell, this was two years ago, mind you, that's when we begin. On our last mission of the year, we met up with some pretty tough guys. There were four of them, so we split up to each fight one. It just so happened that Hikara's had a claw that held poison. She told us later that he continuously complained that his regular partner wasn't there, or she'd be finished off sooner. But, he eventually trapped her whip, and began to slash at her. I finished off mine, as did the rest, and we ran over to kill him. But in the end, he got away. Who knows where he is now?"

This guy sounded vaguely like those guys that Sakura told me about on one of their missions.

"Dead," I blurted.

She gave me a funny look, and said, ""Yeah, okay. But we freed her, and tried countless way to see if we could take out the poison that was already draining her of life. We had no idea where to cut her with kunais, it seemed like it was coming from every which way. Finally, I decided to try something that I had been working on with Hikara herself. She looked at me, right before she fainted, and nodded. Then I proceeded to do what I did before. You know what happened, right?"

I nodded, "Hikara told me."

"Right. So, I found where it came from, her heart was pumping through her body, and promptly fainted for two days. By the way, how long was I asleep?"

I shifted on the corner of the bed, and said, "Um, you were out for a whole twelve days."

"What?" she said.

"Yeah, a whole twelve days. Sorry! I tried to wake you!"

"Oh my gosh!" Tsukiko cried, "I should be training instead of talking to you! How long until the next exam?"

"Three days."

"Crap! Bye, thanks for watching over me!"

She ran out of the door, and I watched her go, but then stood up and walked over to the door.

"Hey!" I shouted, "You forgot your jacket!"


	17. Chapter 16: The Last Fights

Chapter 16

A/N: Okay, so, I'm trying to finish this up and get to the timeskip ('cuz that's funner to write about)so I'm gonna be really sparse on the details.

Tsukiko barely left the training grounds I had set up for myself when I entered the ninja academy.

I had to pull her away at the time the final exam was supposed to begin.

"Amaya," she said as we were walking toward the arena, "if I accidentally stop paying attention when they explain, will you enlighten me as to what the boring people were talking about?"

I snorted, but said, "Sure."

We walked inside, and my eyes widened a bit as I saw the arena for the second time in my life. We had gone to see the chuunin exams here last time it was held here, but this time it was me everyone was looking at.

We walked into the line of ninja, and Tsukiko whispered to me.

"Amaya?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're gonna have to explain."

I snorted again, but fell silent as the jonin began to give the directions.

When he finished, Tsukiko followed me and the rest up to a large hole in the wall where the genin watched the others.

We watched as Naruto surprisingly defeated Neji, and I heard the watchers protest for the next match.

_That's Sasuke's and Gaara's, _I thought.

But then a jonin appeared and told us that the match was postponed, and the next match was to begin.

That was Kankurou and Shino, but my eyes widened behind my glasses, when Kankurou quit.

I never really thought Kankurou was that kind of guy.

I looked over at him, but Tsukiko nudged me, and whispered, "You're next."

I nodded, and headed down the steps, Kyoko following, but I stopped when Tsukiko called my name.

"Amaya?" she said.

"Yes?"

"Win."

I smiled, "I can do that."

We faced each other, hatred on my face, and the proctor began the match.

We leaped away from each other, and I took off my glasses, putting them in my pocket.

_Pop. _I was next to him. He punched, missed, and

_Pop. _I appeared five feet away from Kyoko. He ran at me again.

I was doing what my father taught me: utter confusion strikes. One of his (and now mine) best weapons.

_Pop. _I was behind him, then

_Pop. _Up in his face. I punched him, and

_Pop. _Behind. I kicked a roundhouse at him, and completed the final step.

_Pop. _I disappeared.

All I could see was white, and I was immediately soaked. I was up in the clouds. I floated for a few seconds, and then gravity pulled me back down.

I fell for about five minutes; it seemed I had teleported too far up.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" I cried as I fell.

I saw every face from the stadium looking up at me, especially Kyoko's.

I curled into a ball, and fell faster, and faster, letting only my instincts tell me when to open, and punch Kyoko.

I stumbled as I touched the ground, but I saw Kyoko laying facedown in the dirt, a big dent on his head.

I heard Tsukiko cheer, then Hikara, then Aika, then Ryota, then everyone else.

I smiled widely at the crowd; I raised my arms, hands touching the sky, and joined in.

The proctor walked over to Kyoko, and looked at him.

"He's fainted," he pronounced, "I declare the winner, Ferrna Amaya!"

I met Tsukiko at the stairs.

"Hey, good job," she said.

"Good job?" I said, raising an eyebrow, "I beat him in five minutes!"

"Actually, you were up in the air for five minutes, it took you about eight."

"Eight, five whatever, and you shouldn't be bringing me down, I know you were the one who started the cheering."

She was going to say something, but Katsu walked over at that time.

I hugged him, and I felt his face get warm as he hugged me back, and whispered, "Good job."


	18. Chapter 17: Katsu and his Dirt

Chapter 17

Katsu stood in the field, watching Hakuchi Chijin. Katsu disappeared immediately after the proctor began the match, so we didn't really see him for long.

"Do you really think you can fool me as easily as my partner?" Chijiin said to the air.

Katsu rose again. Three Katsus, to be precise.

"C'mon! Do you really expect me to fall for a simple jutsu like that? I can easily defeat you," laughed his opponent.

Chijin ran at Katsu, and made two clones appear. Each punched a Katsu, and every Katsu fell to the ground, turning back into the soil it cam from.

Then they rose again, and each hit Chijin's two clones, including the real one, hurting him in the progress.

As he wiped off the blood dribbling down his chin, Chijin asked, "What? He wasn't one of them! Where's the real one?"

In response, a figure rose up again, behind Chijin, and preformed seals.

"The idiot," I muttered to Tsukiko, "Chijin doesn't even notice him. But that is the real Katsu."

"How do you know?"

"Soil clones can't perform seals. And, by the looks of it, that's Obutsuraion no Jutsu, his favorite, and most effective, jutsu."

Katsu stepped back slowly, then turned and ran halfway up the wall as the earth began to rise. Chijin spun, and his face turned looking like a freshly wiped whiteboard.

Right in front of him was a giant lion made solely of dirt. It roared at him, soil splattering the scared boy.

He screamed, and ran for it. Unluckily for him, there was nowhere to run to. We watched Katsu controlled the lion. It ran, and swallowed him.

There was a silence, and then,

"_BURP."_

Out flew Chijin from the lion's mouth. He banged against the wall right below Katsu, who caught him. He dropped Chijin, at the proctors feet, and to the cheers that I began, he was pronounced the winner.

When he got upstairs, Tsukiko looked at him,

"Okay, that was cool. It's gonna take a lot to finish as well as you."


	19. Chapter 18: Lightning Does the Trick

Chapter 18

Temari was fighting Shikamaru, who had decided to be lazy again today. Eventually, he gave up, and Temari was declared the winner.

"It seems that Uchiha Sasuke hasn't showed up," I said, after prying myself away from almost getting killed from Gaara, who was going down the psycho path.

"Who?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. He's the guy who Gaara's gonna fight. Wait, how come you know Gaara's name and not Sasuke's?" I was curious about this, and had pondered over the answer since I had taken Tsukiko home.

"He interests me."

"Uh-huh."

Then I looked back, since the ninja had appeared again, and was saying that, once again, they were going to postpone the match, and asked for the next two to come down.

I lifted my foot over the trickle of sand that came from Gaara, and walked over to him.

"Relax," I said, "Once Sasuke gets here, you can slaughter him. Just don't get me in the process."

I wasn't sure if that was going to help at all, but it was what I did when I was six. I slid away from him, and from his quizzical siblings, to watch Tsukiko's fight.

Juro Finyer was standing by the proctor, with a smug look on his face. But the strange thing was; there was no Tsukiko. I scanned the arena, and finally found her right below me.

"I'll begin from here, thanks," she said to him.

The proctor shook his head, and said, "We said that we have to start every fight facing each other. Now get down here!"

She looked up at me, and I shrugged.

"I guess I forgot to tell you that."

"Fine, fine," she grumbled, and jumped down.

"Be-"

She immediately jumped away at the first syllable, landing right where she was before.

"Tsukiko!" Aika's voice was heard. .

She looked over, and Aika said, "Give him hell!"

She nodded, and looked back.

I could hear Aika say, "No!"

Juro ran toward Tsukiko, his handmaroon.

"Whup!" she grunted, ducking just in the nick of time. Then she punched him, right in the stomach.

He coughed up a bit of blood as Tsukiko jumped away, then he dropped his head again.

_What the heck is he doing _ I thought.

"Oof!" once again, Tsukiko ducked just as his red hand swung toward her. She punched him again, this time in the ribs. He froze again, and this time Tsukiko didn't jump away. She hit him in the back with a lightning bolt.

The crowd gasped, but Tsukiko ignored them. She pulled out a kunai, and grabbed his hair. She hacked off his perfect hair, then grabbed his chin and pulled his face to look at her.

She slid her hand down to his neck, and pulled him off the wall. Then she dropped him.

He fell with a thump onto the ground; then Tsukiko landed primly next to him.

She leaned over. His eyes were closed, and he looked asleep. Then he jerked up and swung his legs around.

Tsukiko fell down, and Juro scrambled up, and stood right behind her , directly on top of her hair.

Juro smirked at the defenseless Tsukiko. Then he raised his hands, and preformed seals.

"Akaruite no Jutsu!" he cried, and raised his hands.

Unlike his hand glowing before, this time it was both hands, and they were blood red. He curled his hands into fists, and began the quick descent to win.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tsukiko grunted. Then from the ground, the white-haired kunoichi spread her arms wide, and slapped them together

"Uindoshi-rudo!" she shouted.

Then, with his hands just inches from her face, a whirlwind of swift breezes swirled around her. They hardened, but continued to rotate, and formed a shield just before Juro's hands hit her.

"What?" he said, surprised.

"Yes, you can't hurt me now," Tsukiko said silkily, "Now, will you please get off my hair?"

He obeyed, and she stood up. The winds began fly faster, whipping up her jean jacket.

"Now, Juro Finyer, please die."

She ran at him, white-hot lighting running through her hand and arm.

Then she hit him. He flew across the stadium, hitting the opposite wall. The wall collapsed, and boulders landed on him. I held my breath, but nothing happened; the pile stayed still.

"Ahem," said the proctor, "Since Juro is not able to move, the champion, Tsukiko Moiev!"


	20. Chapter 19: What Happens Next?

Chapter 19

Please forgive me if I get any facts wrong. I don't have the manga, and I'm too lazy to go watch them somewhere. Just tell me, and I'll try to correct it.

"Tsukiko, did you, did you really?" I asked her.

"Yup, I killed him, totally on purpose."

She slid past me, and listened to the screams – again – for the match of Gaara and Sasuke.

We waited for about five minutes, and much to Temari's and Kankurou's happiness, I continuously left Tsukiko's side to calm a bloodthirsty Gaara.

In an instant, and swirl of leaves picked up, and showed two ninja: Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei.

"Finally," I muttered.

"Well, since Uchiha Sasuke has arrived, will the other opponent please step down?" called the proctor.

Gaara walked coolly down the stairs, and there was more cheering.

I clung to the railing watching the battle progress.

Gaara had pulled up an orb of sand around his body, and Sasuke was still trying to attack him, even though spikes made of sand kept appearing.

And then he got through it using a lightning jutsu His hand was submerged in the sand, and you could hear muffled screams coming out of the sphere.

"Um, why is Gaara screaming?" Tsukiko asked me.

"Well, he's never been hurt before, so I suppose-"

But I never got finished. Everybody's attention was turned toward the ceiling of the arena. Tsukiko and I looked, too. I cleaned my glasses, and looked closer, and saw two men standing there. One in a blue robe, one in a red one.

"The Kazekage and Hokage!" I said, "What are they doing up there?"

But the Kazekage, wasn't the Kazekage. The fake had taken of the triangle hat and was laughing. Four ninja appeared, and produced a rectangular purple shield. We watched as a ninja tried to run through it, but failed.

All of a sudden, a rush of wind shot past me as Temari and Kankurou shot past me, and picked up Gaara. Then a small shower of silver feathers fell from the sky.

I cursed, and dispelled the illusion. Tsukiko, on the other hand, and everyone else in the stands, fell asleep. I teleported out of the stadium's walls, and followed the sand siblings, which were just into the forest.

I slipped in after them, and followed them silently. They didn't know that I was there, which wasn't surprising, since Gaara wasn't conscience. We headed through the trees, going farther and farther into the trees. I had no idea where we were going, and I wasn't sure that they knew, either.

- - -

I kept at a safe distance all through the following, even when getting sidetracked when Shino appeared, forcing Kankurou to stop and fight him.

We stopped for the last time when Sasuke appeared, and Gaara began to wake up.

What happens rest, go watch the episodes and add me in there.


	21. Chapter 20: Timeskip

Chapter 20

_Slosh. Slosh. Drip._

The milk from the bucket swished around, finally spitting out a couple drops of the white liquid. I glanced down at the spilled milk as I walked. I heaved the bucket onto the wagon that was stationed at our farm to go into the main part of Konoha to sell.

Two years after Naruto left, and all I had to show for it were new clothes, and a new weapon.

I walked back to the house, smoothing out my long-sleeved, bell-shaped black shirt with a gloved hand.

It was then that I ran into Gaara.

He appeared in a swirl of sand, and he looked around for a second until he caught sight of me.

"Amaya," he said, walking over to me.

"Gaara," I said shortly, and brushed past him.

He followed, saying, "Amaya, will you please come back with me to Suna?"

I closed my eyes, my back toward him.

After the mission where almost everybody went besides Tenten and Aika, I had left Konoha for a little bit to come live with Gaara and his siblings in Suna. I had willingly stayed there for a year, doing missions with them, until Gaara broke his promise to me.

He lost his temper, and he killed someone through blind fury.

That night, I packed up, and went home.

This was the first time Gaara had visited me in a year.

I turned to face Gaara. I stepped back a foot, surprised at how close Gaara had been standing behind me.

"No."

"Amaya, please-"

"I'm not a little kid anymore!" I had burst, "You can't get me to come back with you by begging anymore."

"No, I didn't mean it like tha-"

"Yes, you did. Here, I'll prove it," I looked about wildly, finally grabbing my staff a couple feet away, leaning on the barn, "Fight me."

"No, I don't-"

"Fight me," I said through gritted teeth, "If I win, I don't have to come back with you, and I'll never have to see you again. If I lose, I'll come to Suna without a fuss."

I reached for my staff, which was standing a couple yards away, and swung it around my back.

"Amaya." Gaara said, as if talking would change my mind, "You know what will happen if we fight."

"We'll do it anyway."

I thrust the tip my staff into his chest, but the sand took hold before I could reach. It crawled up the wood, and Gaara looked at me.

"Sorry," he muttered.

I looked at him in surprise, but I figured out what happened soon.

The sand hit me full in the chest, and I flew backward, hitting my head on the wooden wall of the barn.

The last thing I remember was Gaara slowly walking over to me.

- - -

I sat in my old room in Suna three days later reading a letter that had been held for me for about five months. It was a letter from Aika, who has been on an undercover mission for one and a half years now in Taigakure, or the Village Hidden in a Waterfall. She had included a picture of her and a black-haired boy. She wore a red shawl, much like the cloth that used to be around her waist, and a black shirt and white pants. Her Konoha headband was gone, replaced with a Waterfall one neatly tied around her neck.

At the end of her letter, she wrote,

This cutie I'm with in the picture is Corbin. He's another one of the Leader's junior advisors (I did tell you I was one, right, Amaya?) By the way, something's wrong here. The leader is getting more and more secretive, barely letting in his normal advisors, let alone us. Also, the jounin I have to report to are asking stranger questions. I can't wait to get home. I'd miss Corbin, though.

Your friend,

Aika

I tossed the letter down, and stuck the picture in the rim of the window. Then I stared out of it, taking in the view that had been gone from me for a year.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Come in," I said, turning around.

Gaara walked in, and I turned back around.

"You can still go home," he said.

"I made a promise," I whispered, "And I'm keeping it."

He sat down, and stared out of the window with me. Then he did something he never did in all of the years I knew him (besides the ones that I was three days away from him.) He touched me. He took me by my hand and pulled me away from the window to look at him.

"Amaya," he said to my surprised face, "I'm so sorry. I know I broke my promise, and I swear on my life that I'll never break it again. Just forgive me."

He twined his fingers around mine until our pinkies linked.

I looked down at our hands, and then looked back at his serious face, his tattoo morphed with the lines creased in his face.

"Promise?" I said.

"Promise."

Our pinkies tightened around each other, and we let go. Warmth that had been missing came back, and I relaxed.

"So, where are your friends? Kudzu, wasn't it? And the girl in red?"

"Kudzu's a plant," I said, "_Katsu_'s on a mission, which he does a lot, after they figured out that he can find practically anything or anyone with his soil. And _Aika_ has been undercover for a year and a half. Where are your siblings?"

"No idea."

"But you're the Kazekage."

"Gimme a break. I don't keep track of every in Suna."

"Yeah. Only Konoha ninjas you met at age six."

"Well, someone's crabby."

Life has gotten better.

- - -

I woke up suddenly from my sleep by shouting that sounded above me. I got out of bed and pulled on my shoes.

I hurried upstairs, only to see Kankurou and other ninjas looking at the sky. Kankurou glanced at me, and answered my questioning glance with a finger pointing at the battle.

I gasped.

A ball of sand and a giant bird were floating in the air, with a blonde man on it.

We stood there, watching the sky at the combat above us.

I never took my eyes off Gaara until he was flown out of sight.

"No," I whispered, "No!"

I took a step forward, preparing to somehow get Gaara back by jumping into the night sky, but Kankurou stepped by my side and held me by my waist to stop me. He was much stronger than how he used to be when I trained with him two years back.

"Let me go!" I yelled at him, "We need to get him back!"

He looked at me fiercely, "I'm going. You stay here, and be my backup."

"No," I said, "I'm coming with you."

He looked at me, his painted forehead creased, and nodded. "Okay. I'll need you." We left, running at top speed, following Gaara's sand that had dripped from his face. But we were forced to stop, when the Akatsuki had left a trick.


End file.
